Attempt at Normalcy

One good thing about how we planned our trip was that we returned on Saturday night, which meant we had Sunday to prepare for normal life again.  We woke up this morning and Mom had already left (she apparently was ready to get home and back to normal too.)   I unpacked and started to do a TON of laundry.  For breakfast, I basically was limited to what I could discover in our fridge/freezer.

Breakfast
I ended up cutting up about 3/4 of a carrot, added some frozen carrots, about 1/4 cup of black beans, about 1/4 cup of frozen spinach to a skillet.  I cooked this and then added 1 whole egg and 1 egg white to make a semi omelet.  On the side I had a homemade whole wheat muffin that I have in the freezer with about 1T of plum jelly.

Close up

It actually was quite good.  I added some ketchup to it.  For scrounging around in the kitchen, this was a success.

Justin wasn’t in the mood for scrounging, so he walked up the street to the bakery and got a croissant with egg, ham and cheese.  I simply couldn’t turn down a slice (I think I was still dreaming of the croissant I had the morning before in the D.R.)

(Sorry about the dirty plate, it is my plate after I finished the omelet)

Around 1ish, I had gotten enough chores done around the house that I decided it was time to head to the gym.  I ate this before walking out the door (along with a handful of Golden Grahams)

Workout
At the gym, I did 40 minutes on the elliptical set to incline 3.0 and did intervals:

Intervals	Level	Time
Warm-up	5	5 minutes
Hard	8	30 seconds
Easy	5	2 minutes
Repeat for 20 minutes
Steady	6	10 minutes
Cool-down	4	5 minutes

After I did the elliptical, I decided I wanted to lift too.

Exercise	Weights	Reps/Sets
Bench Press	65lbs	8/3
Shoulder Press	2 20lbs	8/3
Bicep Curl	30lb barbell	8/3
Tricep Kickbacks	1 25lb weight	8/3 per arm
Tricep on Machine	65lb weight	7/3
Seated Rows	60lb weight	8/3
Bicep Curls	2 20lb weights	8/3
Dead lifts	30lb barbell	8/3
Pushups on bosu	1-both hands on bosu, then alternated hands	10/3

This took about another 25 minutes or so.

After the gym I headed to the grocery store, which took forever because we had no food.  It also managed to cost over double than what we spent 2 weeks ago.  Oh well.  Means good eats this week!!!!  They had TONS of fresh fruit, so I stocked up.  Expect for a fruitful (hehe) week!

PM Snack
After I put all the groceries away, I had a piece of whole wheat toast with all natural PB and a small bowl of some of that yummy fruit (mango, peach, cantaloupe and honeydew.)

Dinner
For dinner, I was DESPERATE to cook.  I really was craving some good, healthy, homemade goodness.  They had some lump blue crab at the store, so I got a pound of that.  It took me over 30 minutes to pick through all of it.  I think crab may be the only thing that I am willing to put that much labor into.  After I picked through all the crab, I went outside and sat with Justin and enjoyed the warmth.  I took a glass of wine with me (Mom left 3/4 of an open bottle here, so I sort of feel like I have to drink some of it before it goes bad.)

For dinner, I made crab cakes.  I am definitely a crab cake snob.  I hate filler.  I want to simply taste the crab…yet have a good crunch…yet be healthy.  This recipe is simply crab, reduced fat olive oil mayo, dijon mustard, old bay seasoning, Worcester sauce, some vinegar, Panko breadcrumbs, onion, red bell pepper and 2 egg whites.  I used a non-stick pan with about 1 1/2 tsp of olive oil and cooked 7 minutes per side.

I also made a gazpacho.  I really didn’t feel like I could get enough veggies in me to help my body detox.  The gazpacho is tomatoes (duh!), cucumber, onion, garlic, sherry vinegar, a bit of olive oil, red bell pepper, cilantro and basil.  I blended about 3/4 of it and left the other 1/4 in small chunks because I like the different consistency.

On the side, I toasted some Italian bread with basil and mozarella cheese.

My plate:

I do have to admit to having a third crab cake…..I just couldn’t hold myself back.

This was by far the best meal (aside from the cheeseburger last night) that I have had in over a week. 

While I have been typing this, I snacked on this:

It is some of my leftover Cold Stone ice cream (blueberry muffin with white chocolate chips) and some of the HEAVENLY granola that I have been missing.

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! I am heading to bed so I can get a good night sleep and face work in the morning.  I always hate the first day back after a vacation–dealing with all the emails, catching up on things, etc.  I am glad to be back in the normal blogging world though.  Hopefully work will be slow so I can catch up on some of my blog reading….I have missed reading you guys blogs!

Dominican Republic Recap Part #2

Just to begin, I thought I would let you all know that I worked out almost day that I was on vacation.   Obviously, Saturday was a travel day, and then every morning Monday-Thursday, Justin and I got up before breakfast and went to the gym and worked out.  Unfortunately, the gym only had 2 upright stationary bikes…and they had no padding and were really not aligned correctly.  But due to my drinking, I made myself push through.  I did 40 minutes on the bike and then lifted for another 15 minutes and then did at least 5 minutes of abs every day.  Some days I simply rode, other days I did intervals.  Friday, we took the day off but on Saturday we hit the gym again before a quick pool dip and heading to the airport.  The gym did not always have air conditioning and even when it did, it was incredible humid and hot in there.  Needless to say, I was a sweating machine.

Okay, food.

There is no better way to put it….the food just wasn’t good. The main problem that we decided was that they were catering to foreigners and especially children. There was always non-Caribbean food which we simply found weird.  Why try and cook something that you aren’t known for?  The foods that were local to the Dominican were always the best.  We just couldn’t understand why they wasted their time with things like hamburgers, hot dogs, pasta, etc.  Their breads were not good unless you got them fresh from the oven or toasted well.  I don’t know if it was the humidity or if they just didn’t make them fresh every morning.  The other thing that was a bit odd was their cheese.  It was bizarre and really not good.  Some nights they would have normal cheese out (mozzarella, cheddar, swiss, etc.) but during the day they only had this terrible unknown form of cheese.  Justin was the only one who ate a hamburger out of the three of us.  I tasted it (spit it out) and it didn’t taste like beef.  I have no idea what was in that thing.  Anyway, Justin was the only one who got very very sick.  Up to you to decide if it was the burger….

At our resort (it was all inclusive), there was a breakfast buffet at only one place.  This wasn’t all that bad.  They always had yogurt, dried oats, fruit, an omelet bar, and then a whole slew of breakfast foods that I didn’t touch (french toast, pancakes, fried everything, etc.)  Most mornings I just had yogurt with dried oats, cheerios, raisins and almonds. On the side I would have some sliced fruit or a banana with peanut butter and one hard boiled egg white.  The last two mornings, I had an omelet with tomatoes, green peppers and onions and some toast.  It was simply delicious.  Walking out of breakfast the last day, I let myself have a fresh from the oven croissant.  Good thing I waited until the last day to taste this.  It was AMAZING!  The fresh fruit was also HEAVENLY.  I really loved the pineapple, the mango and the coconut.  It was so fresh that it tasted like you pulled it off the tree.

For lunch there were two options (kind-of).  One was at the same place the breakfast buffet was and it was really bad.  The other option was down at the beach and was called the Salad and Snack bar.  I never figured out what they were referring to as the salad bar, but they typically had chicken, rice, fresh veggies, and fruit down there.  For a few days we attempted to eat at the main lunch places, but it was really bad.  I kept trying to take lettuce and make a salad…not happening.  Then I figured I would just make a sandwich with all the fresh veggies and that was much better.  And I also obviously ate more fruit.  They also had a big dessert area that I stayed away from…except for this amazing cereal concoction.  They took the cheerios, oats, fiber one and corn flakes from the morning and mixed them all together with this white chocolate ‘nougat’.  I think I could have eaten this all day long.  Luckily they didn’t serve it all the time.  One day at the lunch buffet (the first day), they had a rotisserie like chicken.  It was simply amazing.  All the chicken we ate was AMAZING.  I don’t know why they were attempting anything else.  It was like no other chicken I have ever tasted.  I may search for the rest of my life for a replacement.

We typically had a drink before lunch (Caipirinha) and then maybe a beer or two with lunch.  We had the same waiter most of the trip, Arnulfor, who we ADORED.  He spoke french, English and Spanish.  He only spoke French to me, Spanish to Justin and English to my mom.  He also was always so happy to see us. He was the reason why we would go up to the main buffet for lunch.

In the afternoons, we headed over to the pool bar and had a few drinks before dinner.  (Photos to come).  We had dinner reservations every night at 8:30PM, so some nights we got hungry before hand and went into the dinner buffet for appetizers.  Thank goodness we never had to eat at the dinner buffet.  It simply was a repeat of lunch.  The only thing we ever ate there was fruit and maybe some of the (good) cheese on crackers for an appetizer. 

The resort had 5 dinner places:  The buffet, a French restaurant, a Mexican restaurant, an Italian restaurant and a Japanese (teppanyaki) restaurant.  We ate at the Mexican and the French twice.  These were also the only two that I took photos at.  The Italian was actually really good and I would have eaten there again.  I some how managed to almost eat the same thing at every restaurant.  Some sort of seafood medley.  I figured I was on an island in the middle of the ocean, I should try and consume as much seafood as possible. 

Here is me at the Mexican restaurant with my blue margarita on the second night we were there.  The chips in that photo were the most stale things I ever tasted.

Justin and mom with their drinks

We did get guacamole brought out to us that was amazing.  I did could have eaten it straight.

The food at the Japanese restaurant simply was not good.  It all tasted like salt.  But one good thing came out of eating in that group setting–we met two girls (both about 30) from Amsterdam that we loved.  One of them, Dijana, we spent a lot of time with.  (The other managed to find herself a boy-toy for the week and ditched her friend).  The next time we went to the Mexican restaurant, Dijana went with us.  She lives in Amsterdam but her family is from Croatia, so it was great hearing all her stories.

The only day that we left the resort (it was tough to leave, even though the food was bad, because we had already paid for the all-inclusive) we ate at Cabarete.  First we had drinks at a Thai restaurant (we didn’t eat any of the food.)  The drink on the right is mine.  The bartender (who was from Florida and was just a surf bum) called it a butterfly.  It was rum, lime, sugar and a splash of orange juice.  With a cherry.  It was REALLY good.  I had two of these.  The beer is Justin’s.

 

Then we wandered down the beach and found a place to eat dinner.  The beach is lined with all these different restaurants and at night they bring out all these chairs, sofas, etc onto the beach where you dine.  We picked a place completely based on the comfy looking sofas.

A nice close up taken by the husband:

We got a ceviche for an appetizer (which I forgot to photograph) that was to die for.  I may never try ceviche again because it couldn’t even top this.  I ordered the red snapper for my dinner.  I actually didn’t expect the creme sauce on top (which I pushed off to the side and then proceeded to eat all of).  I forgot to take a picture of my dinner until it was obviously much to late.  And I had a choice of sides and for some reason I ordered the french fries over all the other choices.  And they were wonderful.

I had one (probably two?) of these with dinner

Here is a photo of the restaurant after it had gotten dusk.

This was one of the best parts of our trip.  The food was great, the views were stunning and the town was so adorable.  We wished we had traveled more outside of the resort to some of the other near-by towns.

On the last night, we returned to the French Restaurant.  I finally remembered to take more photos of my food (I think I was trying to remind myself that it was time to get adjusted to blogging again.)  I ordered the chicken and lemon salad.  I wasn’t a fan of the dressing (almost like thousand island) on top.

For dinner, I got the Chicken Cordon Bleu (finally a non-seafood entree), which wasn’t all that great.  For some reason the restaurant had this obsession with this mole sauce.  It simply didn’t go with chicken cordon bleu.  Otherwise this dish would have been really good.  (Also, I failed to take a photo until a little too late.).  The whipped potatoes were really good (and quite buttery.)

Last night of vacation:

 

There obviously is tons of things I didn’t photograph.  At most meals I had red wine.  The waiters at the resort always refilled your glass before it got below 2/3 full.  So who knows how much I drank.  There were also quite a few pina coladas, some late night chips and beans (mmmm!), some desserts at a few of the restaurants and a few pieces of bread with dinner (if it was fresh.)

Despite the problems with the food, I am positive that I came home a few pounds heavier.  I am staying away from the scale until Friday.  Hopefully I can work all that off.  It probably was all the beer (Presidente) that I drank along with the cereal dessert and just the gluttony of the week.  I did let myself relax and enjoy.  I kept telling myself that I was on vacation and I needed to enjoy.  But some times I started to feel very gluttonous.  My stomach didn’t always do so well with the food either.  In the end, I think I am content with how much I ate and drank over the course of the trip (as long as I lose it!).

Great trip. Now time to start planning the next one!

Dominican Republic Recap Part #1

I figured the easiest way to do my one week vacation recap was by doing one with pictures and details about the trip and one post about the food. (Which I failed to take photos of for the most part, but that is probably good for many many reasons.)

We got to the airport Saturday morning and the trip to the D.R. was fairly easy.  We were delayed leaving both DC and Miami but we didn’t miss any of our connecting flights.  We landed in Puerta Plata about an hour late and we couldn’t find out transportation anywhere.  We had this all set up ahead of time, but he was no where to be found, so we simply took a cab to the resort. 

The resort was pretty good.  We ended up having 2 rooms instead of one room with a pullout bed (which Mom had graciously offered to take.).  Instead they put us in two full size rooms with a connecting door.  It was VERY nice to have two bathrooms and two TVs (Mom wakes up earlier and go to sleep later).  The A.C. was IFFY at best.  And it was hot.  In general, the buildings seemed to be slightly failing apart.  They definitely needed a make over.  And according to the woman at the front desk, the currently are beginning renovations. 

There was a gorgeous beach on one side of the resort

Which is where were most days.  Some days there were okay waves but nothing that big.  But apparently, to the Dem Rep’icans, the waves were huge and at times they had red flags up.  I grew up going to the Outer Banks all the time, so these waves were basically non-existent.  We had snorkels and fins and went looking at the fish out on the reef.  The snorkeling was decent but nothing as amazing as Hawaii according to my mother.  Justin and I also went kayaking once.  For the most part, we laid out, read, and went and played in the waves.

 

And I guess I did a lot of this:

There also was a HUGE pool that had a lazy river, a huge middle section, some slides, 3 cold water hot tubs and 1 hot water hot tub.  The pool was REALLY deep, and there were some fake rock cliffs that you could jump off of.  I have many more pictures of the pool, but they are all on our waterproof disposable, so I will get those developed some time this week.  There also was a swim up bar, where we went most days around 5 and stayed until the kicked us out (7′ish) and just had a great time socializing.

The resort had a casino which we didn’t go to much.  Mom and I played a few slots and Justin played some blackjack.  In general, I think we were too tired to stay up and gamble.

The only trip that we took outside of the resort was to Cabarete which was about 10 minutes away.  This place was GORGEOUS!!!  There were kite boarders every where and some windsurfers.  We just sat on the beach for awhile and watched these people.

There were probably 200 of the kite boarders out there.  How they didn’t run into each other and get tangled amazed me.  We ended up getting drinks and dinner while we were in Cabarete which was nice from the food at the resort (more on that in the next post).

Overall, it was a fabulous trip!! I think Mom had a good time and I know Justin and I did.  It is tough having to go to work tomorrow morning!!  Luckily the flight back was BRAINLESSLY easy. 

Justin and I waiting to leave the Dominican Republic airport.  We had to have one last drink.

And one last photo with mom. 

We landed EARLY (who has ever heard of that happening???!), got Mom’s luggage immediately and were home and in the house in no time.  Because the Miami airport has ZERO food, we were STARVING when we got home.  And after a week of only mediocre eating, Justin and I were craving burgers.  Applebees was the only place that was open at 10PM and would be an easy to-go dinner.  I had the most amazing bacon cheeseburger last night….with fries.  And I ate the whole thing.  I don’t know if I’ve ever eaten a burger like that…with such abandonment and enjoyment (and almost no guilt!)

Okay, off to make some dinner (I AM SO HAPPY TO BE ABLE TO COOK AGAIN!!!) and then I’ll be back this evening with more post.

I’m Home!!

I am home, well rested, probably a few pounds heavier and quite tan.

 

I am working through my 230948203948209384 emails (about 75% seem to be spam) and then I will start to battle the camera.  I did not take many photos of my food, because it was horrific it was vacation.

 

Anyway, I will post more later and I am so EXCITED to be back!!  Hope everyone has had a fabulous week!